


A Weasely Wizard

by Lumelle



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Friendship, Kid Fic, M/M, hogwarts train
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-12-19
Updated: 2012-12-19
Packaged: 2017-11-22 03:20:45
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,565
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/605264
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lumelle/pseuds/Lumelle
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>On his first trip to Hogwarts, Albus Severus meets someone surprisingly nice on the train.</p>
            </blockquote>





	A Weasely Wizard

**Author's Note:**

> Part of my December project, in which I post one chapter and one one-shot for each day up until the 25th.

Albus managed to listen to James being James for about half an hour before he very much accidentally let Jasper slip out of his grasp. As expected, the ferret immediately disappeared from the compartment, giving him the perfect excuse to slip out.

As soon as he got out into the corridor, Albus started to breathe easier. He knew James wasn’t trying to be mean, but it was still difficult to listen to him prattle on about how he would have such fun with all his friends and help Gryffindor win the House Cup and try out for Quidditch, besides. It was so easy for James; everything was always easy for him. Albus remembered his letters from the year before, and how their mother had always read them aloud to everyone. James had found friends right away, and been Sorted into Gryffindor as was only to be expected, and as soon as he got on a broom it was evident he’d inherited the usual flying prowess of the Potter men.

Albus was not exactly hopeful about his own future success. He’d never been good with gaining friends, and hanging out with James and his friends was only little better than nothing, because it was always about James. Albus was little but a footnote in the book of Potters, and a poor one at that.

He’d probably get bitten by a broom in their first flying lesson. Not that brooms had teeth, but he was sure they could grow some just to show how much worse he was than his brother.

Finding Jasper was easy enough, not that he let it bother him. He wasn’t ready to go back to the others yet, and as long as he pretended he hadn’t found his pet yet, he could keep wandering along the train. Fortunately, Jasper seemed to agree with him, very easily slipping away the moment he let it down on the ground again.

Albus trailed after the ferret, keeping an eye on its tail as it hurried down the corridor, not wanting it to get too far. He knew all too well that not everyone on the Hogwarts train was necessarily benevolent, and he’d have hated for Jasper to get into the hands of someone more bored than moral. While Jasper was a very smart ferret, it was still just an ordinary ferret, and quite limited in its methods of self-defense.

A door opened further along the corridor, just ahead of Jasper, and Albus tensed, worried it might try to slip in. However, Jasper came to a halt, merely looking at whoever was coming out.

The door closed, leaving a short, blond boy standing in the corridor, already clad in his Hogwarts robes. Malfoy.

"Well, who are you now?" Apparently Malfoy hadn't noticed him yet, crouching down to get a look at Jasper. "A ferret. Where's your owner?"

"He's mine." Albus swallowed, stepping forward. "Please don't hurt him."

"Hm?" Malfoy looked up. "Do I look like someone who'd hurt animals?" He actually seemed a bit hurt by that. Strange.

"I don't know. Are you?" Albus walked closer, though stayed a few steps away even then.

"Obviously not. I like animals. Especially ferrets, they're really neat. I'd want one of my own but my dad doesn't like them." He reached out a hand, nice and slow, not making any sudden movements as he waited for Jasper to get closer to him.

"Really?" Albus blinked. Malfoy seemed entirely sincere. Moreover, Jasper seemed not to mind him at all, and Jasper was generally a very good judge of character.

"Yeah. I've tried to convince him, but he's not budging. Mum says I can have a dog for my next birthday, but I'm not sure if I want one. It probably wouldn't be very happy at Hogwarts, stuck in the dorms for most of the day."

"Probably not, no." Albus gathered his courage and walked closer, crouching down next to the other boy. "His name's Jasper."

"Hi there, Jasper." Malfoy gave Jasper his hand in all seriousness, grinning as the ferret touched his finger. "I'm Scorpius."

"Malfoy, right?" He tried not to sound too suspicious. "My father's told me about you. Well, that you exist, at least."

"And you're Potter." This gained him a sharp glance, though still not a mean one. "I saw you with your family at the station."

"Um, right. I'm Albus. Albus Severus. After the two headmasters." It seemed like a good idea to mention that, as an explanation for his name. He figured a Malfoy would question it anyway.

"Headmaster Snape?" Scorpius nodded. "He was my dad's godfather. Dad said he saved his life."

"Right. My dad says he was a really great man." Albus paused. "Uncle Ron doesn't say anything that nice, but then Uncle Ron never says anything nice about Slytherins."

"Of course not. People are always badmouthing us."

"Us?" Albus echoed, blinking. "You're a first year, right? You haven't been Sorted yet."

"No, but I'll probably be a Slytherin anyway. Everyone in my family has been for ages and ages. Well, almost everyone."

"But why'd you want to be in Slytherin?" That seemed utterly incomprehensible. Albus himself had had nightmares where being a Slytherin had played a major part, it seemed strange for someone to be apparently fine with it.

"Well, if I get Sorted there, what's there to do?"

"My dad says the Sorting Hat listens sometimes," Albus confided. "That if you absolutely don't want to go somewhere, it won't put you there."

"I don't know. Sounds kind of like cheating to me." Jasper was climbing up Malfoy's arm, now, apparently just fine with being handled by him. That was funny; Jasper usually didn't take well to new people.

"Cheating?" Albus blinked. He'd never thought of it like that.

"Well, yeah. The whole point of being Sorted is to find the house where you fit the best, right? So if you resist that, you could just as well not get Sorted at all. You'll just end up somewhere you don't fit."

"And it's better to have everyone talking badly about you?"

"My mum always says if decent people stop going into Slytherin, then it really will be nothing but thugs." Scorpius snorted. "Not that people will ever believe that I'm decent, anyway."

"My dad says you're all right." Albus petted Jasper's head with a fingertip. "I mean, not often or anything, because Uncle Ron will always start arguing if he hears that and James always believes Uncle Ron, but he's told my your grandmother saved his life."

"She did. That's why she and grandfather and dad are free and all, because she risked her life to save your dad." Scorpius didn't look at him, focusing on Jasper. "Sure, they lost their reputation, but grandmother says it doesn't matter as long as they all survived."

"I suppose that's what matters, yeah." Albus sighed. "If I ended up in Slytherin, Uncle Ron would probably send me a Howler."

"That's all?"

"What do you mean, that's all? You think getting shouted at in front of the entire school is a joke?" Albus huffed. Just because he didn't have to worry about family's reaction for his House didn't mean he had to just dismiss Albus' worries.

"That's not what I meant." Finally Scorpius looked at him. He had surprisingly big eyes, Albus noticed. "I know a counter spell for Howlers. Mum says that public humiliation is a solution for those without authority."

"Then why'd you need that spell? Does she think your dad would send you one?"

"No." Scorpius turned his attention back to Jasper. "She's worried someone else might."

"You mean, some stranger?"

"It's not altogether impossible." Scorpius shrugged. "So, if you somehow ended up in Slytherin, not that you would, I could take care of that for you."

"You could?" Albus' eyes widened. "You'd do that?"

"If you let me play with your ferret, sure." And now Jasper ran down his arm, coming up to Albus again. "Not that it's going to happen. You're a Potter; of course you're going to be in Gryffindor."

"Right." Oh, he wished he could have been as certain of that. "Um. I should probably get back to the others before they start wondering where I am." Because if they came looking, they'd probably yell at him for talking with a Malfoy. And then say nasty things to Scorpius, who hadn't been mean at all.

"Probably should." Scorpius stood up now. "Nice talking to you, Asp."

"What?" Albus blinked.

"Well, that's your initials, right? Albus Severus Potter." Scorpius ran a hand over his blond hair. "I mean, your name's kind of a mouthful. Unless you like being called just Albus. And, well, there's more than one Potter."

"No, I — I mean, that's fine. Asp's just fine." He got up to his feet now, too. "Uh. Thanks for catching Jasper."

"Not like he was going to go anywhere." Scorpius smirked in a way that could have been smug, but somehow, it just seemed kind of nice. "Maybe I'll run into you again."

"Yeah. Maybe." He managed a small smile, then turned around and more or less fled, not waiting to see where Scorpius went.

He'd met Scorpius Malfoy, he'd met him and talked with him and let him play with his ferret, and both he and Jasper were still perfectly fine.

Maybe he would survive this whole thing after all.


End file.
